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The Overlooked and The Underappreciated
By Scott Louie
With the possible exception of ROBOT STORIES, the theme of this year's Festival picks is The Overlooked and The Underappreciated. These films are not necessarily the Festival's "big players" like REFUGEE, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM or KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI, but deserve serious viewing consideration nonetheless. Each presentation represents subjects and filmmakers at the pinnacles of their respective lives and careers, but offer glimpses to even brighter futures and even more entertaining stories. I encourage you to give them a try.
MUTINY: ASIANS STORM BRITISH MUSIC
This year's SFIAAFF gives films of the Indian diaspora a much-deserved spotlight. But with such hype surrounding the breakthrough BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM and classics like MOTHER INDIA, one film in particular may get missed in the shuffle. Vivek Renjen Bald's ambitious documentary MUTINY: ASIANS STORM BRITISH MUSIC, culminates over five year's worth of interviews and concert footage of the South Asian music scene elite. Such well-known groups as Asian Dub Foundation and Cornershop lend their views to the film, as does tablas visionary Talvin Singh and NYC's Basement Bhangra's DJ Rekha among others. While not household names, even in the Asian American community, these artists hold the top spot amongst their peers and command an exceptionally devoted following. Like many youth worldwide, the subjects of Bald's film find community in music. It's an intense, deliberate and unique look into the South Asian music scene that promises to grow larger and more influential every year. For an in-person look, check out NAATA's annual Directions In Sound program featuring Mutiny's namesake, NYC's legendary Mutiny Crew, battling SF-powerhouse Dhamaal. LOVE! LOVE. LOVE? If your Valentine's Day wasn't all red roses, chocolate hearts and champagne-induced giggles, don't fret. The nine short films in Love! Love. Love? not only confirm love's place as the most universal of irritations, but also offers a great introduction to the sometimes-intimidating world of indie films. Just the thing to remind you you're not alone (even though you might be). Like many of the SFIAAFF's short film programs, LOVE! LOVE. LOVE? serves up a wide range of plots, genres, actors, directors and formats. For those that find the Festival's 68-page catalog daunting, think of a short film program as a tasting menu. You can sample, in small bites, the Festival's offerings without spending hours in the theater or big bucks at the box office. And depending on your mood, each program is thematically-oriented to help with your decision making. Shorts are rarely screened outside of the film festival circuit, so this may be the only chance to view these films. With nine for the price of one, what's not to L-U-V? ROBOT STORIES Everyone loves robots, but do robots love us? The ever-popular writer/director Greg Pak answers just that in his much-anticipated first feature-length project, ROBOT STORIES. Actually four separate films, Pak explores the maternal, parental and sometimes carnal nature of humans, with robots and technology at center of their futuristic lives. But as the films' characters eventually realize, no machine, no matter how sophisticated or how good-looking, can replace the love and compassion of a genuine human being. With numerous short films under his belt, including the indie classic ASIAN PRIDE PORN, Pak proves once again he can handle incredibly complex, visionary stories with great humor and great subtlety. The first-rate cast, including Asian American mainstays Sab Shimono and Tamlyn Tomita, rounds out the effort and makes this film an easy must-see. LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY Sandra Oh is easy to fall in love with. It happened to me personally in '94 when I saw her in Mina Shum's DOUBLE HAPPINESS and again in 2002 when I saw her in Grace Lee's wonderful short film BARRIER DEVICE. Why she doesn't return my letters is beyond me. This year, Shum and Oh team up again in LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, a new feature-length film in which Oh plays a single mom opposite 12-year-old newcomer and occasional scene-stealer Valerie Tian. This film represents Shum's first major release since 1997's Drive, She Said and Oh's much-deserved return as leading actor. Easily the finest Asian American actress today, Oh commands presence onscreen whether speaking or not. Her honest, heartfelt, and occasionally tragic portrayals of women in profoundly difficult situations solidifiy Oh's reputation as a first-rate talent worthy of first-rate roles. UNKNOWN PLEASURES Call it what you will -- China Pop, New Revolution - but Mainland China is in the midst of a profound transformation. Gradually emerging from the dark shadows of Tiananmen Square and martial law, Chinese youths are swimming in an ever-urbanizing, ever-global world of cell phones, fast food and Palm Pilots. This new economy offers a wealth of opportunity and, at the same time, a wealth of trouble. UNKNOWN PLEASURES recounts the quest for a better life, the search for the ticket out of working-class towns by ambitious, starry-eyed youths. Neither the movie's familiar plot nor the film itself would have been likely in China ten years ago, but now a story of rebellious, Gen X-type Chinese youth seems almost passe as the lines between global and local become increasingly blurred. Unknown Pleasures reminds us just how close we are in the world and how we're far more alike than different. Scott Louie is Profile Editor and Copy Chief for Hyphen Magazine. His company, Redline SF, provides low-cost editorial consulting to Bay Area nonprofit organizations. |
